Ramenth, even the best of writing programs can be disasters. There I said it.
This is a complicated and powerful question. Well asked. And the answers so far, and there will be many more answers coming that are equally as powerful. Please forgive me for answering in trite quotes from instructors, but they are people you can trust.
- If you get it from one source, ignore it.
- If you get it from four or five sources, fix it.
Then there is the element mentioned above of "who do you trust?" I weigh the crit vs who the crit is.
This doesn't mean your instructor or the best writer in your workshops. This is, or if you are fortunate to have more than one, someone who becomes enmeshed and dedicated to what you want to accomplish. This person isn't going to gush with awe or give you tons of positive feedback; you'll probably initially hate them. This person will be someone who gives you an equal number of negatives, maybe far more negatives than positives, and who pushes you to make it better--and keeps pushing. This person may write romances, or mysteries, or literary work, and may never read your genre. You may never find this person. Oh, I can also guarantee that it will not be a family member... (there are probably exceptions.)
After all that, there is only your author's integrity. Don't ever tread on your own integreity, but don't be an ass about it. Listen, weigh, decide. One author puts her editors remarks into the damn freezer for three days before she opens and reads them.
If you want to be an author, you stick your wrist out to be slashed all the time. You have to have the ego to watch the blood, decide what is important to better your work, and then, guess what? Do it again, and again, and again. In a workshop with Michael A Stackpole, I noticed that the workshop members were overly positive--a deadly mix since I was damn well paying for this. When it was my turn, I sat on the floor beneath them. It took awhile but finally the dam broke and more honest intense feedback came than I ever would have gotten without doing so. I let them be higher, stronger, than me so I could take everything from them I could. I didn't care and I kept quiet. They felt badly later, and never knew that I'd set them up to get honest deep reactions. Sometimes, you have to get sneaky.
You won't improve until you find a critic who is better than you. The sooner you can manage that the better as well. Members in your classes are probably on a par or lower than you. Your teacher, unless published with several titles, may be no better. Be polite, make notes, keep silent, and learn. When you get more than one comment that is similar--then figure out what the problem is. It might have nothing to do with what they say, but they might be pointing out symptoms of a larger underlying problem.
And since you had the sense to ask the question? Then you are well on your way to being a more critical reader, a writer who is learning to reach into that craft tool box. Writing is a journey. What does Jim say? "Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is a jar."
Push open the first of many, many doors Ramenth. You are on your way already.
